The Effects of Trade Liberalisation on Women's Empowerment in Central Africa

Details

Supervisors

Panin, Amma

Faculty

Faculté des sciences économiques, sociales, politiques et de communication

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences économiques, orientation générale, à finalité approfondie

Abstract

In this thesis, I analyse whether trade liberalisation improves women’s empowerment in Cameroon. I use a difference-in-differences (DiD) strategy to study the impact of the ratification of the Central Africa Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union, using Gabon as a control. I employ data from the 2011 to the 2019-21 DHS program in Cameroon and Gabon. I construct an index for women's empowerment from three key variables: the level of education, the age at first marriage, and the level of media exposure. Using 1 period before and 1 period after 2016, I conduct appropriate OLS and Ologit regressions for each of these variables individually, as well as for the combined women's empowerment index. The DiD analysis shows that women in Cameroon compared to Gabon, experienced a significant decrease in age at marriage, a smaller decrease in media exposure and no statistically significant change in education. Most importantly, I find that the women's empowerment index increases by 6.8%, indicating an overall positive impact of the trade shock on women's empowerment in Cameroon.